time

This picture is part of a series I recently did on the theme of time. Each of the picture titles can be connected with the word "time", thus the title of my series being "connections". You can read about the series at the japanphotographer website, or you can view the pictures yourself. It was really the first thematic photography series I've ever done, and it was a little nervewracking to do. When thinking of what to do, I ended up writing a series of words connecting to time, which are as follows:

wearing kimono

Yesterday I wore kimono for the first time. It was a real treat of an experience, and I am thankful to my friend Sayo for taking the time to get me properly dressed and take me to a tea ceremony. Thanks to Craig too for coming to take pictures in the middle of a nasty, rainy day. Thanks to our new digicam, I can upload the pics right away...enjoy!

now on to the fourth layer...

tying the obi - remember the breathing trouble Elizabeth had on Pirates of the Caribbean? this is the same!

finally done!

during a tea ceremony

Leni Riefenstahl's Africa

While I was at Maruzen today, they had a display copy of Africa, by Leni Reifenstahl. The book costs 270000.00 yen (or about 2200 US dollars), but it has some absolutely amazing photographs, giving the viewer insight to another world existant in our own world. I shouldn't be shocked to see pictures of tribes that I understand are real and present at the same time I am, however I was quite emotionally moved by the photographs. Besides being amazing from a purely artistic standpoint, they showed me something new that I have never seen before, which is always exciting. You can read more about her and her photographs at her website. Though she died last year, her photos tell stories that will preserve her acomplishments forever.

Today is not just a day like yesterday

Even though my days are often somewhat similar, each day is special for some reason or another. This week, in fact, has been a particularly nice week, with great weather (except for some rain today), spending time down by the Kamo river and taking photos galore (it's chipping into my wallet that's for sure!). Yesterday Craig and I went to look at digital cameras. We decided on the new Olympus µ-30 (which I guess is like the U.S. Stylus 400). It is a compromise for us to buy this camera, because what we really want is a big, expensive digital Canon SLR camera....but we figured that the Olympus will quench our desires and save us money for quite a while. We get the camera tomorrow (it's first day out!).

Today, I met with my conversation partner, Kazushi, and had a nice long conversation with him at a cafe in Kyoto. It's a cute little place called Hannah, by the Hankyu Kawaramachi line. If you're in the area, check it out because it's pretty cheap and the coffee is good.

After that, I went down to Maruzen, our local book shop, and picked up a few Japanese books. I want to make sure that I study for the first level Japanese proficiency test in the States, and they have a great selection of books at Maruzen. I think I got a couple good ones - I just have to keep up my determination to study them. My Japanese classes this past semester have been going pretty well, and I have increased my knowledge of kanji quite a bit. I can read so much, but I still couldn't write much of it if I tried. It's just a different world - remembering something upon seeing it versus actually pulling it out of your mind and writing it yourself.

After all this, I went to a local Indian restaurant and had a nice lunch there. I met this girl who was working there named Kamita, and she and I talked quite a bit. She is from New Delhi and has been living in Japan for about 2 years. She actually surprised me a bit by asking for my phone number so that we could get together later, but I am glad she did because I was thinking of doing the same myself. Maybe I can learn something about those delicious Indian curry spices ;)

gaming in Japan

This was from a few months back when I went to a game center with some of the Fulbrighters from this year. If you note, the two following games are different than most one would see in the States. One is a dog walking game, where the player grabs a leash and tries to keep their doggy on the sidewalk, and the other is a taiko drum game. Very interesting (for about 2 minutes).

Please Expect

An interesting sign that I came across a while back. One example of the immense usefulness that English learning offers to daily Japanese life (that was laden with syrupy sarchasm). Oh, and the 500 yen shirt I'm wearing is another prime example - its logo is "prattle" followed by the sentence "The rest of sections are secret time."